


Malaise

by Kat_Of_Dresden



Category: Rush (2013)
Genre: Caring Niki, Fever, Hurt/Comfort, Racing, Sick James, Sickness, but not a lot, fluff?, people who care for each other more than they would like to admit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-27 14:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Of_Dresden/pseuds/Kat_Of_Dresden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sick!Fic<br/>James is feeling pretty bad when Niki goes to check up on him.  And stays.<br/>Just a bit of sick James and nice kind caring Niki for no apparent reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Malaise

This was not the first time Niki had seen James Hunt throw up before a race.

He knew it was something that his rival did most times they had a race, but he also knew it wasn't something he did because he wanted to - not a ritual, like others pilots did. No, this was something that the brit couldn't control, something unavoidable, something even painful sometines, judging by the expression on his face.

Niki envied many things that Hunt had: his good looks, his success with women (and people, in general), and most of all the way in which he could win without all the effort and tons of calculations he needed. He made it look so easy. But he didn't envy this part, the part where his body rebelled against him. When he couldn't do anything else. Not so perfect after all.

It wasn't an easy race and at the end, neither of them won: Niki placed second and Hunt only sixth. Maybe it was that the brit had lost interest in winning, or maybe he had a problem with his car. Who knew. Niki had wanted to ask him (he wanted -no, needed, a rival in conditions to keep motivated), but he barely saw Hunt a few seconds after they left their cars. He looked pale and was going quickly somewhere as if in a hurry. Some journalists distracted Niki and he lost sight of the man but made a mental note to seek Hunt later.

And indeed he did, after finishing with the press and telling Marlena where he was going, he left for his rival's hotel room, not too far from his own. Nobody answered when he knocked, but as the door was open, he let himself in. Once inside, he looked around the room to the familiar furniture - but Hunt was nowhere to be seen. The only sound that could be heard in the room was coming from the bathroom.

When James had felt the overwhelming urge to throw up (again) he ran into the toilet and hastily closed the door. And there he was, clutching the toilet bowl as if his life depended on it, retching miserably. Feeling worse than he had in years. And he wasn't even hungover, something else was wrong.

He felt horrible and had been feeling horrible all day. He had a heache, his stomach was unsettled and he felt strangely cold, even when the warm spring sun beat down on him.But the worst was the nausea. There had been moments in the race when he'd feared he would lose control of the car. He just felt so bad, he wanted to curl into a ball and just die. At first, he thought it was because of the race, but it had come and gone and he still felt terrible.

And the damn nausea refused to clear up, even after he spent all that time in the toilet.

When he found the strength to pick himself up, he hastily cleaned his teeth and his face, trying to clear his mind. When he opened the door he finally realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Niki had decided to wait for his friend to finish before saying anything, not wanted to mortify him - but it had taken longer than expected.

Hunt looked at him confused though glassy blue eyes.

"Niki... What are you doing here?"

Good question, Niki thought, what am I doing here?

"I didn't see you after the race, thought we could... you know, talk. Are you all right?"

"I've seen better days." Hunt said, and drew one of his charming little smiles.

He threw himself on the enormous bed and closed his eyes, trying to minimise the thumping headache he felt. It was useless, the pain was still there, even in the darkness. Unending.

"Maybe you should call a Doctor." Niki's voice said from amidst the darkness. "You're very pale."

But the prospect of moving and talking and smiling to strangers and.... no. He would stay in his room, sprawled in that bed forever...or at least until he wasn't feeling so bad. And the few times he'd been sick before he had always healed on his own.

"I'm fine." he lied. "It's nothing."

But of course, Niki was having none of it. When James opened his eyes he saw the Austrian pilot next to him, sitting on the edge of the bed looking at him with disapproving eyes. Despite was he'd just said, the truth was James was feeling even worse. The cold was starting to become uncomfortable heat and his stomach was still bothering him. And Lauda's eyes were on him, all times.

"Shouldn't you be with your wife?"

"I was worried about you." Niki admitted. "And with good reason, as usual."

"You worry too much, Niki. I'm fine."

"You can say it all the times you want, but it still won't be true. You can barely stay uptight, you've been throwing up for approximately ten minutes and you've probably have a fever. Objectively, you're not fine and objectively, I have reason to worry."

Hunt mentally laughed at the man's exactitude but had no strength to do anything else. He looked at his friend.

"So...?"

"So I'll stay here until... until I'm less worried."

This time James found the strength to let out a small laugh.

"Your choice."

They spent some time like that, James thrown in the bad and Niki sitting in the corner of it, occasionally worriedly looking at Hunt. But the next time James tried to go to the bathroom the world started spinning and Niki had to hold him to break his fall. The Austrian also noted that, as he suspected, Hunt had a fever. He called a doctor, ignoring the protests.  
The doctor oncluded that it was probablya virus and told them to call again if he didn't feel better in 48 hours and prescribed some antibiotics. James was feeling flushed now and his eyes were strangely bright.

"Do you have someone to stay with you?" Niki asked after the Doctor left. He noticed now that none of the people that partied with the Brit had come, or even asked about him. And that was a bit sad.

"I could call someone from the team, but..."

"I can stay with you." Niki said before he even finished. "I'll tell Marlena, she'll understand."

"I can take of myself."

"No, you can't." Lauda said with his best matter-of-fact voice. "You have a dangerous fever, if it got too high it could affect your brain. You willl also need fluids to replenish the ones you lost, or you'll risk dehydration..."

"All right, all right. Enough with the lecture. If you want to stay, I'm not gonna fight you." Niki drew a little smile of triumph."But you could catch whatever bug I have - there's probably more than 20% risk of contagion. Wasn't that the rule?"

"This will be the exception that confirms the rule, then. It will be our secret."

Niki left with a promise to be back quickly to go to talk with his wife and get some food and drink. He told Marlena a sad tale of how lonely and sick Hunt was, and how he was just being a good guy. She understood. Niki didn't have many friends and it wasn't often that someone he liked liked him back (even with the insults and all the history they had, these two did like each other) so she didn't put any objections. Niki went back to James' room after ordering some orange juice and white rice with plain chicken breast, the dinner his parents gave him when he had an upset stomach.

They had dinner together and watched some tv, talked about their opponents, about life. It was nice. Calmer than James' usual nights but a welcome change. Not bad at all.

Things worsened gradually as the night progressed - James' fever got worse, the dinner made an unwelcome appearance and even he had to admit that he was not fine. Luckily, Niki was there to help him out. 

"You're a lovely nurse, you know that?" James joked while he was on his bed after taking the meds.

Niki was shot him a nasty look. He appreciated the sentence, but he had to look hurt or his manliness would be resented.

"No, seriously." Hunt continued, from under his sheets. "Thank you. For this. You didn't have to."

"What can I say, Hunt. I am the better person." He said, with a mock-serious voice.

He dozed off after a while and Lauda did the same on the small couch of the room. All was silent. next time he woke up, it was three in the morning, his head was swimming and Niki was watching him from the couch. It had been a very long day, with the race and everything and he was really exhausted, but couldn't sleep in that hard couch. It was sad to admit, but he was used to better. And he was still slightly worried.

So when Hunt briefly woke up and told him there was room in his bed if he wanted to, he didn't have to think too much. He didn't care about the sudden closeness, didn't care about the risk of contagion. He was a guy who usually went early to bed, it was three in the morning and he wanted to sleep.

He fell asleep almost instantly.

That's how they were found the found the next morning, asleep in the same bed, facing each other - the picture of peace and calm. The maid smiled, but let them sleep.

It was a beautiful sight.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it and thanks for reading! Could be read as pre-slash or just them being friends. (And cute)  
> Do comment if you liked. And write, people! This fandom is very under-written! (Is that even a thing?)
> 
> Love,
> 
> Kat


End file.
